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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF WOMEN AS LEADERS AND NATIONAL WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY
WHEREAS, the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was ratified on August 18, 1920; and
WHEREAS, the fight for electoral equality continued after the 19th amendment was ratified, as women of color faced extraordinary barriers to suffrage. African American, Latina, Native American and Asian American women fought for enfranchisement throughout the 20th century; and
WHEREAS, African American women played an active and pivotal role in the struggle for universal suffrage despite their exclusion from many national suffrage activities and groups. Black women like Maria Stewart, Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and many more fought for equal rights for all African Americans throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited racial discrimination in voting, culminating a centuries long effort for suffrage in the African American community; and
WHEREAS, Latina women, particularly in New Mexico, were key advocates during the women's suffrage movement. Hispanic suffragists worked with the National Woman's Party (NWP) and other suffragists to champion Spanish-speaking and bilingual women. Discrimination against language minority citizens was still a major barrier for Hispanic women exercising their right to vote. The 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act prohibited such discrimination; and
WHEREAS, historically, Native Americans were not allowed United States citizenship, yet Native American activists like Zitk?la-?? organized and advocated for women's suffrage in the 1920s. In 1924, the Snyder Act gave American-born Native women citizenship, but individual states continued to prevent Native American women from voting as late as 1962; and
WHEREAS, first generation Asian Americans were excluded from voting until the Immigration an...
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